Dr. sc. Slobodan LangScreenshot of Croatia’s television Program“Theme of the Day” on Vukovar 9 Sept 2013

Croats of Vukovar continue protests against the introduction of bilingual signs on public buildings. The protests are peaceful and messages that the people have made significant advancements in democratic pursuits than the government (led by Zoran Milanovic), or the president of the Republic (Ivo Josipovic) for that matter, become clearer day in and day out.

The Committee or Initiative on the defence of Vukovar has on many an occasion during the past eight or so months emphasised that the issue of bilingual signage in Vukovar is not only an issue of minority rights (in this case Serb minority) as addressed in the Constitution but that the issue has much deeper roots. Indeed, if one pays due attention to the constitutional law on signage one cannot but conclude that it forbids erection of bilingual signs if they cause unrest and expressed intolerance. The people see this, know this and the government and the president of the Republic choose to ignore it. It’s as simple as that and as complicated as that, for, it is in the nature of the people to pursue truth. The truth is on the side of the people protesting the introduction of Cyrillic script on public buildings.

Furthermore, the roots of the issue also stretch deeper – into the question of needed changes in the education model applied to ethnic minority (Serb) in Vukovar. While the government and the president push for bilingual signage in Vukovar under the pretense that “it’s law and Croatia is a country of rule of law” they at the same time ignore the fact that laws must be interpreted in full, are made from the people and for the people; this ignorance I dare say is a remnant from days of communist totalitarian regime. Furthermore, the same government and president tolerate segregation in school education in Vukovar! I.e. Serb children attend Serb schools and Croat with other ethnic minority children there attends Croatian schools! This segregation of Serb minority there is not something that was imposed by Croatia’s governments, it is something the Serb ethnic minority has decided for itself, thus creating self-imposed ethnic “ghettoisation” in Vukovar.

Both Zoran Milanovic (Prime Minister) and Ivo Josipovic (President) appear to be lost and floundering in their political rigidity and unwillingness to listen to the people as they are confronted by the ever increasing numbers of Croatians supporting the initiative to exclude Vukovar from bilingual signage and declare it a place of special piety.

Dr. Slobodan Lang (medical doctor, humanitarian and world renowned peace activist) has even gone further with this plea and suggested on public television, Tema Dana/Theme of the Day program, last Monday 9 September that a special law that could be named “Lex Specialis” for Vukovar should be drafted and passed in parliament. LINK TO THAT TV INTERVIEW
Translated excerpts from HRT “Tema Dana” (Theme of the Day) TV interview with Dr Slobodan Lang on Monday 9 September:

I forbid Serbia to use Ustashe terminology

Question: What is the real truth about Vukovar today?

Dr Slobodan Lang: First of all I pay my respects to all the families of those who perished, all the people who were in concentration camps, all invalids of war, all the women victims of rape, and I thank them for after so much suffering remaining as people with so much dignity.

Also, what I need to say at the beginning, with the fact that a complaint about the behavior in Vukovar has been sent to the Croatian Ambassador in Belgrade, that this complaint has been handed to the ministry and passed onto the EU with a view of promoting Ustashe politics, I forbid Serbia to use such terminology for Croatian parents whose children had perished in Vukovar. And, they should stop playing with terminology such as Ustashe generally, while on the Croatian side there is the need to have understandable concept of dignity, and the Croatian public has the right to know how the Embassy in Belgrade and the ministry of foreign affairs had reacted to that complaint. The people I have mentioned above have been labeled as chauvinists (NOTE: referring to statement by prime minister Zoran Milanovic when speaking of protesters against Cyrillic in Vukovar) and accepted as such in Serbia and radicalized further, and I think that the Prime Minister absolutely must invite the victims of Vukovar and apologise to them.

We find ourselves in the moment just prior to when judgment against Goran Hadzic, indicted for war crimes in Vukovar, is to be delivered and to use such words (chauvinists…) to describe the victims of Vukovar means that those using such words must have a strong sense of power…

Firstly, in 1991, there were attempts to solve the conflict peacefully and this did not succeed. After that Croatian defence arose, and the initial defence was implemented, which was heroic and which took upon itself the dignity of the whole of Croatia and which, after that, transformed into suffering with people taken into concentration camps, raped, pillaged, deportation from Vukovar until 1997. In 1997 when Peaceful reintegration was drawn up, in medical language peaceful reintegration is a kind of first aid and it was to place that area as a part of our country and to include the people in it… this wasn’t considered properly and a world in which children were held segregated was maintained… how can you keep the children separated from each other … who has such a soul to keep the children separated for so many years … how can that be!? You have the situation where you could not enter into the concentration camps in Serbia; where there was no plan formulated as to how to find the missing people; that you are a raped woman and have the first judgment for rape only last week… that we are at the times where the ICTY in The Hague war crimes trials are nearing to an end and there are no Croats convicted there for war crimes. Not only do we have those convicted from Serb side but Mr Babic has apologised to this nation for what had happened and yet Croatian media practically did not mention that as if they have no courage to tell the truth about what the international court in The Hague had confirmed.

The Croatian government considers that knowledge is not necessary, it considers that in matters of economy, in matters of European arrest warrants, in matters of Vukovar … you don’t see that there’s respect of people who have knowledge, to consult with them…

Prime Minister Milanovic, the President Josipovic, the Leader of the Opposition Karamarko are nowhere to be seen where there are discussions and debates … it has not occurred to them to hold a conference or an assembly … we have a government that does not dare say it doesn’t know and through that prevent any opening for people to come into prominence and so it is around Vukovar issue.

We need a gathering of people in the know when it comes to Vukovar in order to properly consider the situation because, that which must be understood, the banning of Cyrillic script championed by Croatian war veterans in fact reflects respect towards the Serbs in Vukovar. That is, that is the position that says: You engage yourselves in making sure that those who committed rape are prosecuted, to find those who are still missing, for the concentration camps to be seen … so, you cannot have the situation where those who belong to an ethnic minority have no responsibility towards the State. Responsibility for Vukovar is the responsibility of all citizens regardless of which ethnic group they belong to, that is the foundation of Croatia’s existence.

I propose a Special law for Vukovar

Question: we have numerous protests and rallies in Vukovar, we also have the position of rights and responsibilities of ethnic minority, Serb minority in Vukovar, how can Serb minority realize its right to bilingualism, to Cyrillic, while at the same time respecting the truth and dignity of Vukovar’s victims?

Dr. Slobodan Lang: Look, my family perished in Jasenovac (Holocaust), when someone tells me that something is legal and therefore it must be implanted, I hear that Hitler’s racial laws must be implemented because it’s legal to do so. That is an unacceptable backwardness in history… here, when a parent who has lost two children is faced with an explanation that it’s the law … for Vukovar, Dubrovnik and Knin we could talk about the need for a special law, “Lex Specialis”… Vukovar is the place where future of Croatia is to be created … we need to show strength and knowledge there and not to show Vukovar as a place where we lag behind …

to call upon legality without legitimacy is simply not morally permitted.

An assembly of knowledge should be held where academics and other professionals will have the opportunity of expressing their different opinions on the Cyrillc script in Vukovar and we would see how that works as opposed to the behavior of political haughtiness …

I call upon the use of knowledge and finding the truth

Question: … what would the special law on Vukovar you propose contain?

Dr Slobodan Lang: Well look, first of all I would call upon people to talk, I’d promote freedom of speech on the issue, there is no freedom to speak here … how can you come up with a solution … in medicine, how can you prescribe help, therapy if at first you don’t confirm the truth, the diagnosis … if people who can help aren’t allowed to speak, if they don’t speak, if they don’t dare to speak … we have a former university rector for a president but knowledge isn’t used… look, I was first president Franjo Tudjman’s first advisor for the Good… there was not a single idea of his where he had not invited people of knowledge to consult with … so as a citizen I am now requesting a conference, that knowledge receives the right to be used in Croatia regardless of whether it is for unemployment, work, preserving the Adriatic to Vukovar.

Question: How to build new Vukovar when all is in chaos, when everything has stopped, when trenches of hatred are still open, when divisions are large, how are we to come to the truth, to forgiveness, reconciliation and co-existence in Vukovar?

Dr Slobodan Lang: Permitting the usage of knowledge, with fundamental forms of human dignity we will absolutely go far. I go to Belgrade every year and I speak about peace there, I’m involved in joint health projects this very moment so we need to respect people, politics needs to know that it does not own everything and when it opens itself we will achieve the result.

Dr. Lang for President! I am always impressed by Dr. Lang’s intellect, compassion and sense of truth and justice. We need more like him. The Cro governments whether right or left were and are cowards who fail to defend Croatian interests. They protect Serb interests. We need a nationalist government with a technocratic administration made of top experts in economics, business, military etc. to develop policies that will make Croatia strong and prosperous. We need a Croatia First policy that also encourages and rewards Croatians for having children so that the future can burn bright.

Is there a good reason for you not to mention HDZ in this article,I hope that we all know by now that ‘CIRILICA’ is coming thanks to HDZ because it was them who voted for it together with HSP AS(HDZ 11 votes for,HSP AS 2 votes for,SDSS 3 votes for and SDP 13 votes against)Why not to blame responsible people and parties instead of blaming ones who have nothing to do with the issue.I am thinking if it was voted down by HDZ it wouldn’t be a problem today,Milanovic,Josipovic and SDP have nothing to do with the issue and yet you keep blasting them on almost daily basis.

As per you usual comments Amir you go off the rails. The law was passed in 2002 and the government was led by SDP when the particular law was passed. But, it’s not important who voted it in, what’s important is that the current SDP Milanovic gov and president Josipovic, also an ex-SDP, do not follow or bother that part of the law which says that bilingual signs cannot be erected if that causes unrest, intolerance et and HDZ Karamarko has only last week commented on that. You miss the point completely on purpose I think, this post is about the obvious need for consultation with the people and THERE IS NONE. HDZ is not in government – SDP is and they must be held to account after all they must serve the people and not the other way around. I’ll beat them many times every day if they deserve that on issues I write about, that is my right.

Ina,We all would want a government to leave local politics to locals in perfect democracy unless you want Tito 2.0 who would have his people in every single village and city to let him know what’s up so he can act on it on timely manners.Croatian Government has let local government of Vukovar to manage them self and bring and pass new laws if possible.HDZ has entered in the coalition with HSP AS and SSDS and passed the CIRILICA law which means that Milanovic and Josipovic have nothing to do with it,All they did wrong is letting locals to run there own city as it’s done in every single democratic country.You are doing nothing but calling for Tito policy and style of management.It’s also worth noting that Milanovic and Josipovic can’t legally tell HDZ what to do.

Amir – I think you’ve confused your facts. Could you please illuminate what has HDZ coalition with other parties in opposition to do with voting the law in as opposition? Could you please write the date when that law you say was voted in otherwise I’m afraid your comment will be moderated as it’s misinformation. With regards to local government that has to do with local and not state institutions in the local areas. The state institutions are not within local jurisdiction and Milanovic and Josipovic have a great deal to do with that. SDP with it’s coalition with other parties had voted the law in, in 2002, and that was under SDP and that is the law we are talking about here.

Amir Pilipovic you make no sense. It does not matter what a former government has done it matters what the current one does. SDP is in government in Croatia now and it’s up to them to solve the problem, suggest change of law if it’s obvious a law causes problems but in this case SDP government is going against the full meaning of that law. The other week in relation to the matter of Cyrillic in Vukovar SDP minister of veterans affairs Matic said on TV: Well people have a right to an opinion, they can come to us and say what they think but we are responsible to make sure the law is applied. There was not a single spark of good will in him that suggested that he respects the clause in that law that if bilingual signs cause problems then the matter must be re-examined. He like all of them are political elite who think own the country

Marko,There is couple of problems with your point of view,one of them being lack of knowledge,Recently HDZ has entered in coalition agreement with HSP AS and SDSS and together they brought and passed the new law to allow CHIRILIC in Vukovar,only SDP voted against it .So my friend get educated on the issue before commenting on it.You all are calling upon the law from 2002 not realizing that HDZ has ignored it,didn’t care about it,or maybe they thought it will go smoothly .Anyways you are dealing with it because HDZ voted for it while SDP voted against it,so i have no an idea on how you can blame Milanoic,Josipovic and SDP.

Amir Pilipovic, You seem to be one sick dude. What has a coalition in opposition got to do with the government’s implementation of law. But you are wrong HDZ has not to my knowledge passed any new law to allow Cyrillic in Vukovar. The law was passed by SDP in 2002 here’s the link to a version http://www.vsrh.hr/CustomPages/Static/HRV/Files/Legislation__Constitutional-Law-on-the-Rights-NM.pdf
and this is the law that being pushed. Pay attention to Article 8, which the SDP _ HNS + others in Cock-a-doodle-doo coalition seem to be ignoring. And it’s more than clear that in the case of Vukovar it’s implementation is causing grave unrest and intolerance, lack of dialogue etc etc… I don’t know how you can say that SDP voted against it when they were in parliamentary majority and passed the law. So, place your hatreds aside and check out the facts… by the way when did SDP vote against this law, I am not aware of that please illuminate us

Amir Pilipovic – it’s always the government we criticize in democracy, it’s only in your weird world that an irresponsible government makes excuses for ineffectiveness by blaming a former government. When it comes to governments it is their duty to serve the people.

It seems to me the people of Croatia have made much more progress in living the democracy than the government and the government is fighting tooth and nail to stay powerful – just like government did in communist Yugoslavia. Only a heartless government could shut its eyes and ears to the plights of victims in Vukovar. Shame on the government

Thanks Sunman – translation from excerpt of video goes: “Today is the day when we need to raise our voice against the totalitarian regime that ruled from 1945 to 1990 and I think it rules today. You see that the government headed by SDP protects Perkovic … the person who murdered Croatians only because they loved Croatia … it’s enough …”

If I’m reading the article correctly, there is a problem in how to integrate an ethnic minority group, the Serbs, into Croatian society. However, the past actions of the Serbs (some Serbs?) are still a psychological wound that is difficult to contend with and this manifests itself in the use of bilingual messages. Those who oppose the use of it say that the minority group must ferret out those who committed crimes during the war.

Donald Miller, you’re on the right track – there’s so much left of the horrid crimes committed by Serbs in Vukovar to be dealt with and so many dead whose remains have not been uncovered, so many rapists walking the streets freely… Vukovar is a special place indeed and deserves special treatment. Bilingual signs have been introduced in several villages and towns across Croatia (Italian, Serbian/Cyrillic) without a problem, Vukovar is a different place and it to this day has segregated schools etc… one often gets the feeling that the ethnic minority still to this day does not accept Croatia as their country but look towards Belgrade (Serbia)…

It is crazy how Croatia has devolved from the high expectations of freedom to the bondage of injustice. Think of how perverse the situation is: Perkovic an identified/alleged murderer of Croatian patriots is protected by the state even at the cost of millions of Euros in EU funds to Croatia, yet our war veterans and victims of Serb aggression have yet to receive full justice and honour. Heroes like Gotovina and Markac are sent willing by the Government to the Hague on fear of repercussions from the EU. Disgusting.

I too find the resistance to hand Perkovic over to Germany, where indictment says his crimes occurred, disgusting, Sunman. And the fact that Gotovina and Markac were handed over to the Hague is a shameful and horrible, unforgivable political act of those who were against secession from communism in the first place.

Amir, the local government is not the same as the state, the local government cannot override the jurisdiction of state with state matters etc. So stop confusing the issue as it seems you have not clue

Well Amir – you were the one who wrote that a couple of people have been convicted for Uzdol massacre and I asked you for their names as I could not find them. You failed to provide the names, you provided no links to verifiable information source about that but said that I should do research. Well I have and my research has provided nothing, not a single person convicted for Uzdol massacre. And whatever other source from media I go to they all say that. You say a couple have been – WELL where can the readers of this blog find out who they were please. And I say again your comment will be deleted if you do not provide that information and you are not welcome spreading lies or half truths. If you had the gall to write yes, there were a couple then you should have the decency and respect towards the victims of these massacres to name those couple of criminals you say exist identified.

I hope my comments are not too off-topic. I’ve been trying to get a grasp of who is who in the area and the war—something I still am far from accomplishing, yet. Well, natural, I figure if I want to get a crash course on anything, all I need to do is to type in the subject and Noam Chomsky. He seems to know everything about everything. What an amazing man. I’ve never been as impressed with anyone in my life as I am with him. I feel as if I got to know Socrates. I’ve shared some emails with him. He even gave me a “well done” on one of my blog posts. 🙂 Like Socrates, he really has some brass. Unlike Socrates, he’s really fun to talk with. Socrates had a reputation for cornering people. Ha-ha. But no doubt if I lived during that time and place I would have been a follower of the man.

In the video I am using to try and sort out the history, one of the things Noam said was that “Bush should be hung for that war crime alone,” a reference to what US Marines did to the people in a hospital in Faluga, Iraq. He also mentions Britain’s incredible lack of free speech—something made very evident by the way David Irving has been persecuted there. Indeed, he seems to have taken refuge in the state of Florida where I live—only way further down, in Key West. I spent a month there one week-end; if you want to know my opinion of the place.

Uzdol has nothing to do with CIRILICA ,You should do your homework before writing an article,I have provided the law in question for you and your readers ,as you have asked,but all the sudden as expected you started mixing things and deleting it,since you know i am 100 % right.,Why the hell should i or anybody else provide you with info when it’s clear to everybody that i don’t share your point of view.JUST DO HOMEWORK AND EVERYTHING WILL BE FINE.

This is not a matter of view but of fact, Amir. You provided information regarding Constitution of town of Vukovar (local government jurisdiction over which the town council has jurisdiction); what’s occurring on government buildings with Cyrillic has to do with State jurisdiction and the law from 2002 which SDP government voted in. I have nothing against the law but I and all the multitudes that protest have strong issues about how that law is applied wrongly. So your view here really is worth nothing because you do not even consider the actual law we’re talking about. My homework is done well as anyone can check the facts of the law but what you are suggesting is that a town consitution is the same legally as a State law, which is not because each has jurisdiction over different matters and different buildings if you like, where signs are erected.

NOW this is what you are referring to with Uzdol massacre and you wrote: “There are couple people who have been convicted in BIH courts…” I asked for names of those couple of people you refer to and you did not supply them you just say there have been a couple and yet everywhere I look, everywhere others look except you it seems, there is no public record of anyone being convicted for Uzdol massacres. And that information should be public if true. My reply somehow inadvertently went as reply to a comment to the post to do with Cyrillic – inadvertently. I believe you know that but you simply decide to confuse the issues on purpose. So, who were those couple of people allegedly convicted in BIH courts for Uzdol massacres? I’ll transfer your reply to that post’s comments

According to the law passed in 2002 minority has a right to signs if they make more than 1/3.(serbs make 34.87 % of Vukovar).Now can you tell us how SDP has passed the law when everybody familiar with it knows that HDZ has voted for it too and that actually Karamarko,Kosor,Sanader were outspoken in there support of it and yet your article doesn’t mention it.You say that local government can’t overrule federal which is the truth but is not in case in Cirilica and you would be the one confusing your own readers.I really have no an idea on why should i do your home work for you since i hold different point of you,Is google working down under.

Amir it’s getting tiring with you. The point is not that there isn’t enough Serbs registered there to form one third, the point is Article 8 of the same law which directs one that signage should not be erected if it interferes with tolerance, if it causes unrest etc etc. and this is what is happening and the government does not look into the interpretation of that article even if it should. Furthermore it has been said that the 2011 census which says there is over 30% Serbs living in Vukovar thhere are many who say that this is not the case, i.e. that many who had in census said they live in Vukovar actually don’t – they live in Serbia, so there have been moves to seek review of census in Vukovar. Also, there are moves to pronounce Vukovar a special place of piety so that it is exempted from bilingual signage etc. It’s all actually quite straightforward. And you’re wrong – In case of Cyrillic local gov cannot overrule State – that is also vice versa. So the town admin can erect signage only on buildings etc that are under town admin jurisdiction and the state authorities cannot say otherwise (without major process) and the state can erect signage on buildings under its jurisdiction (e.g. school, tax, office, police, social security or pensions office, main roads etc) and the town admin cannot stop it. That’s basically. I would wish you would stop insulting people and actually do your homework yorself – I’m at the verge of actually deleting every comment that comes from you not because it holds a different view but because you use derogatory language, you offend, you confuse fact with view etc etc in and effort to twist and turn and the only reason for that I can see is in your evident hatred.

Robert H. Benmosche
President and Chief Executive Officer
American International Group, Inc. ……..had nice thing to say about Dubrovnik (debruvnik he he) and his farm (wine yard) on Peljesac peninsula. This happened in the prime time on CNBC Business network in USA.

Opinion for quite a few number of years. all right. before we go, you have a villa. i do.it’s like a beautiful greek island or something, i guess, right?no, it’s a beautiful — i know it’s not an island, but it’s in the adriatic. it’s in the adriatic — can you buy them for less there?no, i think it’s very expensive. why did you pick it? it’s the most beautiful place i’ve been. you’ve been? i would refer to you on all- i have not been. why don’t we do your show from the city?because matt lauer did a thing — where in the world is matt lauer and he did it there. he did? he did. we’ll do that. we can do that. we can do it from the villa. and i’ll let you stay there.you’ll stay there. we’ll stay at the villa, do it from the lawn overlooking the water. you do know the game of thrones is filmed there. the game of thrones — the whole castle when yousee — yeah, yeah, yeah. all of that is the walls of debruvnik.that’s all from that movie. you are a renaissance man. you are. i mean — there’s pictures. does that mean i’m old? no, i had to figure out where it was. i needed to get the map big enough so i could figure out where it was. it’s about 90 miles — it’s on the other side of the boot, dude. 90 miles east of rome, basically.you’ve got a deal. we’ll be doing the show there this spring.thank you for coming in this morning and i do want to sayhttp://video.cnbc.com/gallery/?play=1&video=3000197528

Let me make something clear to you ,I am hardcore supporter of Vukovar and Its people and hold opinion that CIRILICA should never be used in Vukovar or Croatia for that matter,I am trying to tell you that nobody in Vukovar(politicians wise)is calling upon the law from 2002,rather every single of them is calling upon the law from 2009,the one that was brought up and passed by local HDZ,Now you can tell me how it went bananas ,it’s stupid ,crazy anti-croat ,udbasi,communists but please don’t tell me they didn’t pass the law in 2009.while every single member of SDP voted against it.It’s possible that local HDZ doesn’t care about Karamarko ,have ignored him ,do what ever they want in general but the problem with CIRILICA is that Karamarko was avid supporter of it before then he so people getting upset and being strong defenders of there belief.

Amir – you are actually getting quite boring with your confusion. The 2009 Vuklovar local law has made it into the media during the past couple of weeks when it was announced that Vukovar city council would meet and bring new law or review the 2009 so that Vukovar could be pronounced a city of special piety and that bilingual signage could come down. It then became apparent that this Council has no jurisdiction over State buildings etc so the Council could not do much re constitution law of 2002 which is actually the law that was announced early this year or so to be implemented and protests started in February 2013. The 2009 law is currently all the rage because SDP led government wants the political points of stalling etc avoid dealing with real issue. Nobody on this blog except you it seems is stupid. At the end of the day as I said before IT DOES NOT MATTER WHICH GOVERNMENT BEFORE PASSED A LAW WHAT MATTERS IS IF A LAW IS CAUSING SO MUCH UNREST WHAT IS THE CURRENT SDP GOVERNMENT DOING ABOUT IT? It’s obvious FA, pardon my language

If it doesn’t matter why not to mention Karamarko or to tell people or your readers what local HDZ was up to,i don’t find anything wrong with saying that some main people of HDZ were avid public supporters of CIRILICA.people like Karamarko,Kosor and Sanader since they are on the record and youtube is flooded with evidence of it.If i am getting it right you must be saying that HDZ has brought and passed the law in 2009 ,the law that was the law on the books and legal until HDZ found out about it and is trying to score couple chip points,Well i have bad news for you IT IS STILL THE LAW,WAS NEVER VOIDED NOR REVOKED ,REPEALED. and CIRILICA is coming to at least 10 more cities,Cities like Vojnic,Topusko,Petrinja etc.Only moron can believe that HDZ has nothing to do with it.I guess you can’t connect HDZ with god damn HDZ,I mean is it that hard to get it.HDZ is not guilty for passing it and fully supporting it but SDP for doing nothing about it ,its kind a messed up belief.

Listen Amir – settle down – I do not need to mention HDZ at all because that is not the issue, the issue is what is the government of today doping about a law that is causing so much unrest!? After all no one in their right mind would be against ethnic minority rights! Excuse me that is how it is – and the Constitution recognises those rights and when the Constitution was drawn all new that changes and adaptations of laws according to circumstances will need to be made. What SDP gov are doing now is digging their head in the sand and saying WE ARE APPLYING THE LAW what they should be doing and saying is OBVIOUSLY THIS LAW NEED A LOOK IN AND REVIEW BECAUSE IT’S CAUSING UNREST, INTOLERANCE etc. Laws are amended all the time, you should know that. Cyrillic and Italian have been introduced to several places, many actually, and no problem bar Vukovar – that should tell even you something. There is nothing messed up about need to amend existing laws passed by former governments: IT HAPPENS ALL THE TIME IN DEMOCRACY!

Well what the government is doing today is exactly what EU asked them to do,HDZ if in power would do nothing different (it’s your claim how HDZ was always pro-western,EU.Democracy)and we all know that EU has requirements for all of us in order to joint it.There is a problem and it sounds that you are trying to solve it by pointing out on the progress of current government instead of pointing to the core of it.However you go guiltiest gets a free pass from you or the core of the problem.Coalition of HDZ,HSP AS,SDSS,and some more have majority,so it would be them who should bring amendments to the law,because they have a best chance of passing it .It’s just yet another reason why i think you actually are not even familiar with power strucure in Croatia,You must be on a mission of destroying SDP and Milanovic regardless of guilt.

Well Amir I do not think HDZ, HSP, AS, SDSS if in coalition have majority seats in parliament, if they did then the current government would need to step down because government is all about majority seats.

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Welcome!

Welcome to my blog. Here I will bring to you a variety of topics covering the documented truth about that terrible war that Croatia had to endure during the period between 1991 and 1995 and about Croatian political history that shaped a wonderful nation of people.

Croatian people wanted independence for centuries, just as they had it until the twelfth century but fate was not on their side – others wanted their beautiful land. In late 1980′s the will to break free from Yugoslavia which suffocated freedom and self determination through harsh communist party rule finally bore the desired fruit.

In June 1991 Croatia declared its independence; soon after the aggressive war against Croatia broke out. The struggle of the Croatian people for self-determination was a just one. But I fear genuine justice has not been served as there have been, and there still exist, international covert and overt moves to equate victims with aggressors continue in attempts to change history. Truth often becomes obscured and lost and that is why I have chosen to write this blog, to concentrate on actual events and issues about Croatia – wishing it a bright and freedom-loving future.

It certainly was not easy to come out of the war that was fought on two fronts:

1. On the military front the world’s public has seen the indiscriminate bombardment of Croatian cities, towns and villages from land, sea and air; the destruction of civilian targets including homes, schools, hospitals, churches, factories and cultural monuments; the blockading and destruction of roads, bridges and ports; the blockading of power, water, food and medical supplies. What hasn’t been shown on our television sets is the forced clearing and evacuation of towns and villages, followed by looting, torture, rape and murder carried out by the Serbian forces, who were initially backed by the federal Yugoslav army that was largely constituted by Serb nationals; the transportation of multiple hundreds of innocent Croatian civilians from Croatia into concentration camps Serbia (Begejci, Stajicevo, Sremska Mitrovica... from October 1991, and later (1992) transferred into Serb-held camps in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Omarska, Keratern, Manjaca, Trnopolje).

2. The second front was the war of political propaganda centred on: misinformation about the rights of minorities in Croatia; portrayal of the Croatian people as Ustasha or Fascists; the representation of the Croatian defence forces as illegal paramilitary units; the representation of the Croatian and Slovenian republics as unreasonable secessionists who are unwilling to negotiate; a regurgitation of distorted facts about World War II.

Indeed Croatia had an absolute right to defend itself and this is often forgotten if not often denied it.

Ina Vukic

Ina has been a tireless volunteer on humanitarian aid and fundraising for victims of war in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, especially war orphans. From1991 to beginning of 1994 she contributed in lobbying for international recognition of Croatian independence and Croatia’s rights in defending its territory and people from military aggression by Serbian forces. For this dedicated voluntary work Ina was awarded two Medals of Honour by the first president of the Republic of Croatia in 1995 (Commemorative Medal of the Homeland War and Order of the Croatian Trefoil).Ina has also written hundreds articles for newspapers in Australia and Croatia on the plight of Croatian people for freedom and self-determination, developing democracy in former communist countries. She holds two graduate and one post-graduate university degrees, specialising in behaviour, clinical and political psychology and management.

Blessed Aloysius Stepinac quote:

“When they take everything from you, you’ll be left with two hands; put them together in prayer and then you’ll be the strongest.” Blessed Aloysius Stepinac (1898 – 1960)

First President of Croatia Dr Franjo Tudjman quote:

“They could not, nor will they ever be able to kill our passion and our need to live in human dignity, in peace with ourselves and with the free nations of Europe. We have carved out that right at our first democratic elections. For this right and for our sacred land we are even ready to die” – Dr Franjo Tudjman (1922-1999) ( Addressing the Croatian nation at the moment of the start of Serbian aggression against Croatia, 16 October 1991)

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The Gospel of John, Ch.8,V.32

"and you will know the truth, and the truth will make you free."

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